Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[gilavina]

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Nice! I'll be watching to see how they progress for you...its been very hard to find blue stock with no coppering...not that I don't love the blue coppers, but I like solid BBS as well (having solid blues is a really good base for my flock)...I'm still crossing my fingers these other chicks decide they want to join the world soon...especially the blues...they just started pipping...so maybe soon

can't wait to see pics of your babies! I'll get mine posted hopefully by tonight for what I've got so far!

These 2 birds were day - olds that I got from Pink in January. They show no coppering at all....so far...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/74873_pigs_-n-_chicks_003.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/74873_pigs_-n-_chicks_008.jpg

This one I call Dolly Parton...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/74873_pigs_-n-_chicks_011.jpg

that bottom pic is still my favorite for sure....I'm on the waiting list for some of pinks eggs...not sure what number I am now...I'm guessing its still quite a ways off...I love the size it looks like her girls have...you are lucky indeed to be able to just hop in a truck and head over to pick birds up...!!

 

[Mountain Mel]

I wonder if you can "borrow" a rooster to put in with a group of hens for breeding, like you can cows? How long would it take them to "get acquainted", or would there be a lot of fighting?

 

[gilavina]

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This will be my third time to this sale. I went last spring and last fall...the funny part is that last spring was incredibly cold...(honestly, the coldest I've ever been in my life) and last fall was really toasty hot...it was kinda funny to be there for the two extremes. I'm hoping this time will be much more temperate. I work Saturdays too, but asked off at the beginning of the year and one of my friends at work that knows I love birds is covering for me.

The sale is indeed really big ...last spring they had much better stock than the fall, but there is tons of equipment (including sportsman incubators), and rows and rows and rows of birds...livestock, hatching eggs, chicks, ducklings,exotic birds, etc. Smith Poultry also sells their poultry supplies while they are there. I usually try to fill out my order and prepay before I go, then pick it up from them. It saves on shipping costs and I know for sure they will have what I need. The prices are hard to judge...it really does depend on who is bidding for the same things...last fall there was a lady that was buying every single laying hen she could possibly find and was bidding up prices like crazy....easily she spent I'd say 1,000 - 2,000 or more on just laying hens...it didn't matter what the breed or anything...so I didn't get much last fall because of that. In the spring though, I had good luck buying a few birds for myself at incredibly reasonable prices. There seems to be a big market there for guineas, pheasants, peacocks, waterfowl,etc...so they can bring pretty hefty prices, but the chickens it really does seem to be based on the quality of the birds and the breed or color...some go for a buck or two and others I've seen go for 30 bucks a bird.

Runner ducks are becoming more popular for bug patrol...they are what rice farmers in asia use to control bugs in the rice paddies. They don't have a need for a pond or anything...a decent size tub for water will work fine...and they are a herding animal. They stick together...I am going to use them for a dual purpose...they are what a lot of trainers recommended for training herding dogs. I have a mini aussie, so I'll work at training her to herd them to and from the garden and keep look out for them. I hope to find a few guinea keets...we'll see how it goes.

I am hearing more peeping from the incubator...very, very good...maybe I'll have some of the little blues hatched out soon!

 

[gilavina]

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My uncle raises birds as well and I've borrowed a rooster here and there when i needed a certain color or etc. Never have had too many problems. When I have borrowed one, I wait til evening and put him on the roost with the girls and by the next morning they seem to get along pretty well. I just make sure I have no other roosters already in the pen...and if I have borrowed a young cockerel and put them in with older hens...sometimes they will take him to task a bit to kind of knock some of the wind out of his sails...but its more idle stuff...never have had any real fights, just warnings they fire at him and within a day or so, they are getting along just fine. At least that's been my experience.

 

[poularde]

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Hey Pink.

I see two little pips. It is so slow. Have to go to work will hopefully come home to some chicks. I can't stand it.

I am actually happy to go to work and not have to watch.

 

[enggass]

Quote:
My uncle raises birds as well and I've borrowed a rooster here and there when i needed a certain color or etc. Never have had too many problems. When I have borrowed one, I wait til evening and put him on the roost with the girls and by the next morning they seem to get along pretty well. I just make sure I have no other roosters already in the pen...and if I have borrowed a young cockerel and put them in with older hens...sometimes they will take him to task a bit to kind of knock some of the wind out of his sails...but its more idle stuff...never have had any real fights, just warnings they fire at him and within a day or so, they are getting along just fine. At least that's been my experience.

Don't you need to quarantine birds before introducing them to your flock to be safe?

 

[gilavina]

Quote:
My uncle raises birds as well and I've borrowed a rooster here and there when i needed a certain color or etc. Never have had too many problems. When I have borrowed one, I wait til evening and put him on the roost with the girls and by the next morning they seem to get along pretty well. I just make sure I have no other roosters already in the pen...and if I have borrowed a young cockerel and put them in with older hens...sometimes they will take him to task a bit to kind of knock some of the wind out of his sails...but its more idle stuff...never have had any real fights, just warnings they fire at him and within a day or so, they are getting along just fine. At least that's been my experience.

Don't you need to quarantine birds before introducing them to your flock to be safe?

yes..it is good to do that for sure...I've only ever borrowed from my uncle's flock before, and he lives right near here. He comes over to our place and we go over to his so often, most of his stock came from ours as well...but if it were someone's birds I didn't know well and what their practices were, I would quarantine, yes. I didn't think to add that

 

[Mountain Mel]

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Don't you need to quarantine birds before introducing them to your flock to be safe?

yes..it is good to do that for sure...I've only ever borrowed from my uncle's flock before, and he lives right near here. He comes over to our place and we go over to his so often, most of his stock came from ours as well...but if it were someone's birds I didn't know well and what their practices were, I would quarantine, yes. I didn't think to add that

You are absolutely right...this is why when I have a thought or idea about the world of "Chickendom" I throw it out here. So many helpful people that bring up things that I (somewhat inexperienced) just don't think of right away. I thank you all for your valuable input and your friendship.

 

[gilavina]

As promised, here's a few pics of my new chicks

Some of the new splash babes

I love this pic. They have the look that says, " So, you're saying we came out of one of those? You've gotta be kidding me!"

They've got some nice leg fuzz going!

My two blue cuckoos with their new buddy the chubby face ameraucana

these are the next eggs I'll be hatching...love their color in natural light...

Hope to see some photos of all the other hatches people have going right now!

 

[Mountain Mel]

Awesome pics of baby chicks!

The pic of the 2 chicks looking at the egg is priceless! It should be on a greeting card.

It's almost like they are giving encouragement to the chick still in the egg... "C'mon...we did it, you can too!"